E1M2: The Dungeons (Heretic)

E1M2: The Dungeons is the second level in the City of the Damned episode of Heretic. It uses the music track "Fred" by Kevin Schilder.

Essentials
You begin this level in a small tower. Head down any way you please to the central area of the level. In the southeast of this area, you will find a wooden door, leading to a series of similar doors. Pass through these doors into the room beyond. Beware of the demon face wall in this room, as it is a fake wall with undead warriors who will attack from behind it. Turn left and go up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, go forward and make a U-turn to the right to find an Ethereal Crossbow. Picking it up will trigger an ambush, so be careful. Collecting the weapon is optional, but makes the level much easier. From the top of the main stairs, take a left turn and head north down the main corridor. The yellow key is located behind the set of barrels. Return to the central area either by backtracking, or by using the secret exit in the northeast corner of the room.

Pass through the yellow door in the southwest corner of the central area. Make your way around the structure in the room beyond to find a wooden door. Head through, turn right, and follow the stairs down. At the bottom of the stairs, you will find a pool of grey slime. Run across as fast as you can to the opening on the other side. Go to the left, then left again and you will find a hallway with three wooden doors on your right. The room behind the first two doors contains Quartz Flasks. Go through the third door and fight your way into the structure at the center of the room to collect the green key. At this point, you may backtrack or continue forward. If you go forward, turn right as you exit the green key room, then right again. Pull the switch to open a door leading to a stairway, then follow the stairs up. At the top of the stairs, lower the wall marked with a falcon and enter the chamber beyond. There is another ambush here. Open the next wall marked with a falcon and pass through. Turn right and make your way forward. A wall will lower temporarily to allow you back into the central area.

Head through the green door in the northeast corner and find the blue key. When you take it, the lights will go out and another ambush will trigger. To restore the lights, head into the alcove containing the Bag of Holding. With the blue key, head back to the yellow door and go down the stairs beyond to the edge of the slime pool. To the left is the blue door. Pass through it and follow the stairs down to the exit.

Official

 * 1) Past the third wooden door from the central area, there is a wall that looks darker. Open it to access the area behind the fake wall in the next room and collect a Tome of Power. (sector 83)
 * 2) At the top of the stairs from the fake wall room, you will see a room with black pillars to the west. Make your way around these pillars to find a Torch and a switch. Pulling the switch opens a passage in the yellow key room. Go through this passage and down the stairs beyond to earn a secret. An ambush will trigger. Continue heading down the stairs and a passage to the central area will open. You will find that the red column in the tower has risen and you can collect the Dragon Claw. Beware, as this red column becomes a crushing ceiling once you step under it. (sector 96)
 * 3) After going through the yellow door, you will see a darker wall to the left of the door that leads to the stairs down.  Open it to find a secret chamber where you will find a Shadowsphere. Entering the chamber triggers an ambush. (sector 32)
 * 4) When you reach the grey slime area, make a U-turn to the right into a passage that has a darkened wall at the end. Open the wall and pass through to find an area with Timebombs of the Ancients and a Map Scroll.  Collecting these items will open an ambush behind you. (sector 47)
 * 5) Inside the above secret, you will see another darkened wall. Open it to find the Gauntlets of the Necromancer and a Ring of Invincibility on one of the three easiest skill levels. (sector 38)
 * 6) After collecting the green key, take the route forward. On the stairs, you will see a torch with a flickering light. Open the wall opposite this torch and head in to find a chamber containing the Wings of Wrath. (sector 190)
 * 7) After collecting the blue key, enter the ambush chamber that has walls with a grey triangular pattern. One wall is darkened. Pass through this secret door to find a large chamber with items. At the opposite end of this chamber is another wall with the same grey triangular pattern. You can open it to come out near where you collected the green key. (sector 161)

Non-official

 * After collecting the Ethereal Crossbow, enter the ambush chamber that opened. A second ambush will take place as a new door opens. Head into the revealed room as well to make yet a third door open. Go to the room beyond it and push on the western wall to find a darkened chamber with a Silver Shield.
 * After collecting the green key, go forward to the place where the wall bordering the central area lowers. You can stand on this lowered section until it rises again to find several bonuses above. Lower the wall again and run through the yellow door. You will find that the central structure there has also lowered temporarily, making more bonuses available.

Bugs
In the yellow key area, upper textures have not been set in the stairs leading to the Silver Shield. The same problem exists on a wall inside the ambush chamber that becomes revealed near the shield. The numbers of the erroneous sidedefs are 634, 636, 638 and 1,406 respectively.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on May 12, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing south-west. (thing 23)
 * 2) facing south-west. (thing 37)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 47)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 48)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: